Don’t accept ‘we were too expensive’ – look for the real reason why they didn’t buy!!
How many times have you found out from a member of your sales team that you’ve lost a deal at the last minute that you’d been hoping to win because you ‘were too expensive’?
It happens quite often, and unless you’re pretty organised and regimented in reviewing deals, it will probably continue to be one of the main reasons you lose business. That is until you put a stake in the ground and let people know that you won’t accept this reason without further interrogation.
I’d like to talk to you about my friend Dave, and before you start trying to work out who Dave is, it’s worth mentioning that this is not his real name and I’m also going to keep his company secret too.
I talk to Dave quite regularly about his business. It’s a very successful business and he’s done very well. His sales team comprises of 4 field sales staff and 3 office-based sales staff.
Dave’s business hasn’t always performed so well and, in the past, there were times when they were struggling to close business. They had ‘experienced’ sales people who were under-performing and the no.1 objection for not getting the business was ‘we were too expensive’. The particular conversation we had coincided with a time when Dave was considering having an extension built for his house – something that I’m pretty confident places most of us way outside of our comfort zone.
‘So, how are you going to decide which builder to go with?’ I asked. ‘It’s not easy Matt, so I’ve put together a rough scoring criteria’. I couldn’t help being impressed by his thoroughness as he listed 4 or 5 key criteria to his buying decision, and yes, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that price was one.
We laughed and joked about the price question and it was then that I asked how important was price to him? ‘It’s important, but nowhere near as important as knowing I’m going to get the job done on time without getting too much grief from my wife’ (who was heavily pregnant at the time). After a pause in the conversation Dave came up with a plan; to simply not accept ‘we were too expensive’ as a bone fide rejection in a deal review the next time it came up.
It may not make a significant difference to your business deals but I can tell you for a fact that Dave’s sales people have to be far more structured in their sales qualification, for fear of Dave’s reaction. And yes you guessed it, their sales cycles are considerably shorter than they used to be.
It might be pure coincidence for Dave but anything that cuts out the easy escape option for sales people is good news in my eyes.